Wednesday, April 27, 2011 Print Edition by Collegiate Times

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

An independent, student-run newspaper serving the Virginia Tech community since 1903

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COLLEGIATETIMES 108th year, issue 53

News, page 2

Features, page 4

Opinions, page 3

Sports, page 5

Classifieds, page 4

Sudoku, page 4

Tech business students rise above average MEIGHAN DOBER news staff writer Results of a study, which show business majors study less than others, do not seem to apply to Virginia Tech. Sociologists Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa published the book “Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses,” which claimed business majors had the least amount of educational gains after their first two years of college. Their findings were based on a national test of writing and reasoning skills, on which business majors scored the lowest. However, Tech’s business majors appear to invest a considerable amount of time in their courses, according to Greg Jenkins, an accounting and information systems professor. “I teach mostly seniors and graduate students,” Jenkins said. “My experience is students are very engaged

in their learning based on their performance.” Phyllis Morena is an administrative assistant in the Center for Academic Enrichment and Excellence and tutors students from all majors. “We have a variety of people coming in,” Morena said. “From what I can see, the business majors put a lot of effort into their work.” The hours per week students spend studying varies according to person and depends on what major in the College of Business they are enrolled in. “Compared to other schools, I think our curriculum is a lot harder,” said Katie Waterman, a hospitality and tourism management major. “I was at Radford freshman year, and it was a lot easier than now.” Waterman said she spends 25 to 30 hours per week studying. Lauren Sexton, a junior marketing major, only spends about five hours see BUSINESS / page two

JOSH SON / COLLEGIATE TIMES

Monkeying around

NASA Mission Control honors Tech alumnus ELIZABETH HAYDU news staff writer NASA’s Mission Control Center will be named after Virginia Tech alumnus Christopher C. Kraft Jr. Kraft, 86, was the NASA director of flight operations in the 1960s and led the project that put man on the moon. Kraft graduated in 1944 from Tech, which had a big influence on his career. “I really have to say it was Virginia Tech — with its tremendous spirited core and the teaching staff — that gave me a great education,” Kraft said. “We are very fortunate we have the people there that are dedicated to making that happen.” Kraft is grateful to the teachers who helped him get his start. “They don’t get the credit,” Kraft said. “But they are the people that

MALLORY NOE-PAYNE / SPPS

Carly Gallagher, a sophomore who went to Touchfest 2, enjoyed letting Mindy the monkey take a short ride on her shoulder.

VIRGINIA TECH UNION BRINGS EXOTIC ANIMAL PETTING ZOO TO CAMPUS FOR A SECOND YEAR JAY SPEIDELL news reporter An alligator peed on a few students in the GLC plaza yesterday — a once in a lifetime experience to say the least. The alligator was one of the exotic animals featured at Touchfest 2 — an exotic animal petting zoo. There was also an armadillo, a large tortoise, a monkey, a parrot and several large boa constrictors. “It’s scary as hell,” said Wisam Fillo, a university studies major, about holding a tarantula. “It’s a lot furrier and lighter than I expected.” Hundreds of students attended the event hosted by VTU and Animal Rentals of Chicago. Students can come to the petting zoo for free to look at and interact with unusual animals. “People here, they’re not used to this stuff,” said Mark Szafran, a member of Animal Rentals. “Like an armadillo — you see it on the side of the road, but you’re never going to be around one.”

Andrew Freitas, an environmental science major, held an armadillo. “She’s a little squirmy,” he said. “It’s not what I would expect. I’ve never seen an armadillo before.” Freitas and the other students posed for photographs with with the animals. “The tarantula was pretty sweet as well,” Freitas said. “I got a nice couple pictures with it.” The Geoffroy’s cat, an animal about the size of a house cat with cheetah-like fur, was the most popular. “It looks like a little jungle cat,” Freitas said. The cat was friendly, approaching students and even climbing on them. “It’s so cute,” said Shannon Hoverter, an economics major. “It’s soft, and it’s playful. It just does whatever it wants.” This is the second Touchfest VTU has hosted, and the Animal Rentals staff members were excited to return. “The constant interaction all the

Syrian leaders crack down on protesters “ HANNAH ALLAM & JONATHAN S. LANDAY mcclatchy newspapers

MALLORY NOE-PAYNE / SPPS

The Geoffroy’s cat was one of the most popular animals. time is just incredible,” Szafran said. “It was fun raising these animals. They’re almost like children.” Szafran said events such as Touchfest provide people with great opportunities to interact with ani-

mals they would otherwise never see, but new laws are making exotic animal-ownership illegal. “And you’ll never see an (exotic) animal unless it’s on a computer screen,” he said.

underly where the future of the country is.” Kraft said he got lucky with his career success. After graduation, he worked with the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. Kraft was later chosen as one of the first 20 engineers on Project Mercury, which put a human being into space. “The rest is history,” Kraft said. “Out of that development, it was the technology that really changed the picture of everything in the world.” In 1982, Kraft retired from NASA at the age of 58. “The United States depends on its people and on its educational facilities,” Kraft said. “Virginia Tech is an extremely important part of that, and they are to be congratulated every day for the impact they have on the students that pass their way through.”

Tanks and troops appeared to unleash indiscriminate fire Monday into residential areas of Daraa, the southern Syrian city where the uprising against President Bashar Assad began, in a widening crackdown on peaceful nationwide protests that seek the ruling dynasty’s overthrow, according to amateur video footage. Although a precise casualty toll couldn’t be learned, news reports and activists put the number of confirmed dead at eight to 18 people in Daraa. Violence also was reported elsewhere, including in the capital, Damascus. Assad’s turn to military force suggested that the Syrian leader, who once billed himself as a reformer, has chosen violence over concessions in a bid to save his family’s grip on power from the most serious challenge it’s faced since his late father seized control of the nation of 21 million in a 1963 coup. The Obama administration, which had restricted itself to condemning the regime’s brutal

(The Obama administration) is pursuing a range of possible policy options, including targeted sanctions, to respond to the crackdown and make clear that this behavior is unacceptable. WHITE HOUSE SPOKESPERSON

suppression of the six-week-old protests, announced that it “is pursuing a range of possible policy options, including targeted sanctions, to respond to the crackdown and make clear that this behavior is unacceptable.” The White House declined to elaborate, an indication that it was trying to coordinate a response with European allies and other nations, the course it followed with the onslaughts that Libyan leaderMoammar Gadhafi unleashed against anti-government demonstrations. “I think it’s safe to assume that the United States and this administration is doing everything it can, including discussions with allies, see CRACKDOWN / page two

Fork and Cork showcases local food, wine, art CHELSEA GUNTER features reporter Townspeople and students will have a chance to please their taste buds on Saturday at the Blacksburg Fork and Cork — a food, wine and art festival. Last year’s event hosted by the Blacksburg Partnership attracted 3,000 guests, raising more than $30,000. This year the partnership hopes to have 4,000 guests. All proceeds from the event will benefit the partnership — a non-profit organization working to enhance the quality of life in Blacksburg. The partnership started the festival three years ago.

This year’s festival will feature 19 wineries, local restaurants with cooking demonstrations, regional art and live music. “We really split it up into the fork, the cork and the art, and each area has something to offer for folks that are coming,” said Diane Akers, the partnership’s president. “We thought that it was just a great quality of life initiative to offer to the community and hopefully bring people in from out of town to also see what Blacksburg has to offer.” The fork portion of the festival will include a Chef 2 Chef celebrity chef preparation and sampling, a Chef Showcase with live ice carvings and

pastry displays, and an Everyday Gourmet portion where observers can learn about easy and healthy recipes. During Chef 2 Chef, there will be four demonstrations where chefs will either cook together or individually, and guests can watch and try samples. “We have what we consider local celebrity chefs,” Akers said. One of the highlighted cooks is Chef Chad Brodkin, the chef at the Inn at Virginia Tech. Besides the chef demonstrations, there will be restaurant sections where people can sample and buy food.

COURTESY OF DIANE AKERS

see WINE / page four

Last year, festival-goers gathered at First and Main streets to sample wine and enjoy the Fork and Cork.

2 news

news editors: philipp kotlaba, liana bayne, gordon block newseditor@collegiatetimes.com/ 540.231.9865

april 27, 2011

COLLEGIATETIMES

Business: Majority of students find jobs after graduation from page one

per week studying. “It gets gradually harder as the course load gets larger,” Sexton said. “I’ve become a lot more organized compared to freshman year when I winged it.” Stephanie Carroll, a sophomore accounting and information systems major, studies between eight to 10 hours a week. “I think it is very hard,” Carroll said. “I knew I wanted to be a business major when I came here.” Several majors within Tech’s Pamplin College of Business are becoming more difficult than in the past. “We have made the curriculum more rigorous by adding courses and making former courses more rigor-

ous in the past five to six years,” said Raman Kumar, the finance department head. “We have also put minimum grade requirements on courses before you can proceed to higher level courses.” The study also showed today’s business students are less engaged with the material than in past years. One reason for student disengagement is the Internet — students know they can always look up information when they need it, so they don’t take the time to study and memorize it. “One change that I have noticed is that students sometimes believe that it is not as important to know a lot of details because so many details are available through online resources,” Jenkins said. “This was not true 10 years ago. Students now want to

rely more in access of information through technology.” Facebook and Twitter have not made teaching easy. “One thing I’ve noticed is, it’s a little harder to keep students attention with laptops,” said Richard E. Wotuch, a management professor. “There are more distractions with people browsing the Internet. By and large, we make our students work hard and it’s hard to get by without doing so.” Christopher Zobel, a business information technology professor, said technology also makes it difficult for him to design business curricula. “Tools change,” he said. “There are changes in what you need to learn, and how you need to learn it. Because

of this, we try to teach why you need the tools, not how. So that when they change over time, students still know that value.” The study also showed group projects contributed to business majors’ lower performance. Group projects are common in majors such as marketing and management, and they often make it easy for students to get by without doing all the work. “Anytime there is a group project, you run the risk of unequal work,” Zobel said. “This is pretty true everywhere.” Although the study offers one perspective on the state of U.S. college business schools, comparing schools is difficult. “Everybody does surveys differently, and a lot of times, they don’t

jive,” said Stuart Mease, the director of undergraduate career services in Pamplin. “Each is set up differently so there is a whole lot of unaudited data. Data is not consistent because survey tools are different every time.” Mease said he is not as concerned about rankings between schools, but rather what recruiters have to say. Recruiters tend to like Tech business students because “they have blue collar work ethic and white collar intelligence,” Mease said. A 2010 Wall Street Journal article ranked Tech 13 out of the top 25 schools for recruiting. The 2010 Post-Graduation survey, which was conducted by Career Services, found that 67 percent of business majors were employed, 21 percent were still looking for a job or

had a part time job, and 12 percent were attending graduate school. The survey is given every year in the six months following graduation. In 2010, 726 out of 1,120 business majors replied to the survey. The median salary for business students was $44,750. The highest salary went to business information technology majors, whose median income was $57,000. Accounting and information systems majors followed with $49,000. Business majors tend to be ambitious when recruiters visit Tech. Last year, 964 business students had interviews on campus, accounting for 42.6 percent of all on-campus interviews. “Business students positioned themselves quite well,” Mease said.

Crackdown: United States may impose sanctions on Syria from page one

with the United Nations, leaders and governments in the region, to make clear its policy position and to make clear to the Syrian government that we believe it needs to cease and desist from the violence it’s been perpetrating against its own citizens,” White Housespokesman Jay Carney said. Security forces and pro-regime thugs unleashed by Assad are thought to have killed more than 300 people. It was uncertain whether Assad could be compelled to alter course. The United States already maintains tough unilateral economic sanctions on Assad’s regime, whose closest ally is Iran.

“Frankly, there isn’t a playbook for this kind of stuff. This isn’t easy in any way,” said Andrew Tabler, an expert at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “It’s not like the Assad family has tremendous assets in the United States.” Syria sealed its border with Jordan as Soviet-designed T-55 tanks and troops moved into Daraa, a city of some 300,000 people, where outrage over the arrests last month of young students grew into a nationwide uprising inspired by the pro-reform revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. “I saw the tanks with my own eyes, along with a huge army presence that was basically besieging the city of Daraa. None of the locals could come out, and none of us

trying to get in were able to,” said aDamascus-based activist who traveled to Daraa on Monday. He spoke to McClatchy Newspapers by telephone only on the condition of anonymity, because authorities are rounding up anti-government activists. “There was a boy who tried to make his way into the city through the farms, but they spotted him and shot him down,” the activist said. “I learned later that he was 16 years old.” News agencies, citing witnesses from Daraa, painted a picture of a city under assault. Locals were quoted as saying that up to eight T-55 tanks rolled into the city’s old quarter early Monday while snipers took positions on rooftops. Throughout the day, the forces

occupied two mosques and a “martyrs’ graveyard,” two activists said. After firing began, the reports said, there were corpses in the streets and no safe way to retrieve them. At least 18 people were killed Monday in Daraa, Reuters reported, citing unnamed activists. Two activists told McClatchy that eight deaths were confirmed, but the final toll could be as high as 25. Dozens of arrests were reported. Clashes also were reported in Damascus and one of its suburbs. The Al-Jazeera satellite channel reported three deaths in the coastal city of Jableh, where security forces have cracked down on public gatherings for two days.

what you’re saying //comments from online readers...

world

On the rising cost of college:

Japan considers containment methods

Mossup >>

The Japanese government is considering building an underground barrier near the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant to prevent radioactive material from spreading far from the plant via soil and groundwater, a senior government official said. Sumio Mabuchi, a special adviser to the prime minister, revealed the plan Friday at the Japan National Press Club building in Tokyo. The plan is the first attempt to address the risk of contaminated water spreading far from the plant through soil. According to Mabuchi, the barrier would extend so far underground that it would reach a layer that does not absorb water. The wall would entirely surround the land on which reactors No. 1, 2, 3 and 4 stand. Mabuchi is a member of the unified command headquarters set up by the government and Tokyo Electric Power Co. to deal with the nuclear crisis. He serves as the head of government representatives on a team dealing with medium- and long-term issues, including how to contain the spread of radioactive materials from the plant. The process of filling the con-

People often jump back and forth between the cost to the student, the cost to the college, the cost to the taxpayer and the sticker price -- four very different concepts -- when they are losing their argument.Regardless of whether federal student aid is offered, colleges still have to pay their faculty and staff, heat their buildings, pay their electric bills, and so on.For profit colleges generally price their product at approximately the maximum-available federal grant and loan amount. Many non-profit colleges list a sticker price many times above the available federal student aid and offer “tuition discounts” to the majority of students who cannot pay the sticker price. Funds are internally redistributed from the students who can afford to pay the full sticker price. Yet even these schools tend to argue that even students paying the sticker price do not cover the full cost of educating themselves. In particular, at state schools, the full sticker price of in-school tuition, fees, room and board is still often subsidized somewhat. Wealthy students attending state schools are subsidized by the state taxpayer in general.

Anon >> As a current student, I’ve been wondering about this over the past few years now as tuition goes up every year. Sadly most people are left without a choice until employers change their standards.As it stands, you almost need a minimum of a 4 year degree if you hope to get a job paying a comfortable livable salary of $50,000 or more a year. No degree = no job unless you have connections or start your own business which most students don’t have the resources to do. So what are students to do?

Mark >>

Mike >> Yes, but he is using AVERAGE wages for those who went to college and those who did not. Engineers will no doubt start more than 23k, but political science, history, art, music, sociology, and a bunch of other useless degrees will not. In my opinion the only good degrees are those that add productive capacity to our society. This eliminates most social sciences.

Karen >> And yet Mike, you might enjoy art (movies?) and music, and it’s easy to recognize that social workers are already overworked even if they are underpaid, and remember that saying about those who don’t know their history are doomed to repeat it. So perhaps calling many social science fields “useless” might be a bit of a stretch...

crime blotter

vessel. However, the firm said it has injected about 14,000 tons of water into the No. 2 reactor and 9,600 tons of water into the No. 3 reactor since cooling operations began. In both cases, the amount injected exceeds the about-7,000ton capacity of the reactors’ containment vessels. Tepco believes considerable amounts of water leaked from those reactors’ containment vessels into their turbine buildings through cracks in pressure suppression pools and other routes. Meanwhile, at the No. 4 reactor, Tepco has attached cameras and other equipment to a concrete pump used to inject water into the pool containing spent nuclear fuel rods to monitor the water and radiation levels around the clock. According to the company, water in the pool was 91 C (196 F) on Friday, and the water level was about 2 meters (about 6.5 feet) above the spent fuel rods. Those readings were about the same as those taken by the company on April 12, Tepco said. –staff, mcclatchy newspapers

nation Hackers inﬁltrate PlayStation network Sony Corp. on Tuesday admitted that hackers have obtained personal data and possibly credit card information of tens of millions of people who have registered for PlayStation Network, the company’s online game and movie service, as well as its Qriocity digital music service. In a blog post, company spokesman Patrick Seybold did not say how many accounts were compromised. But Sony last year said more than 50 million people have registered to use PlayStation Network, which links users via the Sony PlayStation 3 console to game downloads and online services such as Netflix Instant Watch video streaming service. Hackers who gained access to per-

sonal information last week were able to steal the names, addresses, phone numbers, user names, birth dates, email addresses and passwords of registrants, Sony said. The company acknowledged that it did not know whether credit card information was also stolen. “While there is no evidence at this time that credit card data was taken, we cannot rule out the possibility,” Seybold wrote. “If you have provided your credit card data through PlayStation Network or Qriocity, out of an abundance of caution we are advising you that your credit card number (excluding security code) and expiration date may have been obtained.”

Sony last week shut down its PlayStation Network service, saying the service had been the target of an “intrusion,” but did not release details until Tuesday. Such a broad breach of consumer information is rare, because most companies take precautions to silo customer information, separating contact information from credit card data, for example, so that only parts of any customer’s profile can be accessed from a single attack. The company said it plans to get parts of the PlayStation Network services back up “within a week.” –alex pham, mcclatchy newspapers

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V I O L A T I O N - A F F I D A V I T

date reported

time

offense

location

status

4/25/2011

9:00-11:00 a.m.

Larceny of a Bicycle

Outside Cheatham

Inactive

4/25/2011

11:14 p.m.

Possession of Marijuana/Possession of a False ID

Vawter Hall

Arrested

arrestees

Peter Moshier, 18

13216540656465514

You can start by recognizing that $50K is not a “comfortable livable living salary.” You don’t need $50K straight out of college. If you can get it, great, but you can live comfortably on much less than that. What to do? Students should stick to schools offering the best bang for your buck. Tech is not off-the-wall expensive yet for in-state students. In-state (IS) tuition today is still a bit less than out-of-state (OOS) tuition was ~12 years ago when I started as a freshman (OOS) at Tech. At the time, OOS tuition at VT was about the same as the IS tuition I had available. I did not come from a family that was very well off at all, and I was able to swing it - my loans are nearly paid off. Tech is still way behind the tuition curve. If you want to do something about rising tuition, get involved. Ask the university to stop building unnecessary things like on-campus hibachi restaurants and suite-style dorms. Take a walk around campus and look at the construction. Research money is paying for a lot of it, but students are paying for a lot, too.

tainment vessel of the Fukushima power plant’s No. 1 reactor with water is progressing steadily, according to Tepco. Tepco plans to continue injecting water into the containment vessel until the fuel rods inside are fully submerged in what the power company has called a “water coffin.” At a press conference held Friday, Tepco said it believed pressure suppression pools at the bottom of the No. 1 reactor’s containment vessel were full of water, and that the top section of the containment vessel was about half full. Under normal circumstances, the pressure suppression pools are about 50 percent full with water. The pressure suppression pools help control the air pressure inside the reactor’s pressure vessel. Operators can open valves to release steam from the vessel into the suppression pools, where it is cooled and condensed to water. According to Tepco, it has poured about 7,000 tons of water into the No. 1 reactor’s pressure vessel. The company said it believes almost all of that water is still inside the pressure vessel and the containment

opınıons 3

editors: scott masselli, gabi seltzer opinionseditor@collegiatetimes.com/ 540.231.9865 COLLEGIATETIMES

april 27, 2011

The Collegiate Times is an independent student-run newspaper serving the Virginia Tech community since 1903

Arrest report policy violates students’ rights sure everyone is aware the enacted a policy that Ihasamuniversity potentially dire consequences for all students, without consulting any of them first. The e-mail all students woke up to Friday morning informed them they are now required to report any arrests to the university. The key word here is arrests — students are being asked to discuss potentially active legal cases with people who are not their lawyer. It would seem to me the policy not only has great potential for abuse, but is questionably legal. Presumably, students would be punished for refusing to comply, but Virginia Tech — or any person or institution besides Congress — cannot compel a person to discuss an active criminal investigation against themselves, as per the Fifth Amendment. I am not a lawyer, but being punished for refusing to discuss such a matter — as any competent lawyer would surely advise — feels like the exact definition of the word compel. Furthermore, the notion that the policy will provide increased security is specious at best and dangerous at worst. Can those who enacted this policy point to a single crime that would have been prevented had this policy been in place sooner? Why are students being asked to give up their right to privacy and rights as the potentially accused for some phantom security? It seems to be a non-sequitur. What is even more concerning is the potential for one of these follow-up e-mails making its way to a state prosecutor or future employer. In Wisconsin and elsewhere (see: “climategate”), university email accounts are fair game in political and legal battles, and it seems dangerous to presume that discussing an arrest with a random, unauthenticated stranger via e-mail would be anything close

to confidential. The e-mail says these reports will not be used to “adjudicate more violations,” except for when the reports will be used exactly for this purpose, as described in the very next paragraph. This doublespeak does nothing to assuage my concerns about the implications of the policy with regard for the rights of the accused. I implore the student body to reject this ridiculous policy and not submit any paperwork that says anything more than “I refuse to be compelled to bear witness against myself in any fashion and will not discuss details of any arrest without the presence of my lawyer.” I implore the student government to get involved as well and act as a voice against this policy. Faculty and staff should lend students their voices and influences as well. The first step in combating such injustice is awareness. Please spread the word to anyone who will listen and e-mail Dr. Edward F.D. Spencer to let him know what you think. If the university refuses to engage the student body about these matters, the next step is to organize. I have created a Twitter account at “VT4Privacy” to assist in organizing a response. This policy is serious and requires that students stand up and speak as a unified student body. Do not let this issue fade into obscurity — we must act immediately and decisively if we want the policy expunged. One final point: The fact that UVa has a similar policy is completely irrelevant. If UVa jumped off a cliff, would Tech follow them? This is fifth grade logic and has no place at an institute of higher learning.

DANIEL DePOY -guest columnist -graduate student

Congress should not loosen protection for nation’s fisheries esides disco balls, bell-bottoms and lava lamps, the B 1970s can lay claim to something far more important — a host of landmark environmental laws. The Clean Air Act, Ocean Dumping Act and Clean Water Act changed our nation forever. And as a then-young Coast Guard seaman, I saw firsthand the improvements in managing our oceans after Congress passed the Fishery Conservation and Management Act, 35 years ago. Though most people have probably never heard of the MagnusonStevens Act, as the law is now called, this piece of legislation forms the linchpin in managing our nation’s fisheries. It marked a major turning point in how we oversee marine resources, ensuring that we have seafood on our plates for years to come. It’s also a policy that all Americans who love to fish and eat local seafood should applaud. Passage of Magnuson-Stevens marked a historic recognition that our ocean fish are a valuable national resource, which, with prudent stewardship, will help feed and employ millions of Americans. The law set in place a fishery management system still used today, but unfortunately also helped expand the U.S. fishing fleet to unsustainable levels, resulting in overfishing, or taking species faster than they can reproduce. Subsequent congressional efforts to strengthen the law, in 1996 and 2006, helped refocus fishery management efforts to end overfishing and promote more sustainable practices. This has included the development of strong, science-based catch limits to aid in rebuilding depleted populations. Today, the United States has in place one of the most advanced marine resource management programs in the world. We also are on track to have in place catch limits designed to end overfishing on the vast majority of major commercial and recreational fisheries in U.S. waters by the end of the year. Some now in Congress, however, are trying to loosen current conservation provisions within our nation’s fishery management laws, under the label of regulatory reform. They

argue that legal mandates to end overfishing and rebuild depleted populations are too inflexible, and that short-term economic needs should trump long-term sustainability. This approach, however, would simply repeat policy mistakes of the past that resulted in the collapse of many commercially important fish populations around the country, creating idle boats and lost jobs. I remember what commercial ocean fishing was like before Congress passed the MagnusonStevens Act. While serving in the U.S. Coast Guard patrolling the waters off Cape Cod, I was at the center of a scene right out of the Wild West. Boats, including huge factory ships from overseas, were caught in a frenzy to haul in as many fish as possible with little regard for sustainability or for other creatures — like sea birds and sharks — harmed. In those days, fishing boats from around the world would ply the waters right off our coastlines. I’ll never forget ferrying boarding parties in small open boats to huge mother ships from distant nations. Towering over our 210-foot cutter, these vessels allowed foreigners to stay at sea for months and sweep our oceans clean of cod, flounder and other species. After the passage of Magnuson-Stevens, however, federal officials were able to push these boats out to 200 miles off our shores. Subsequent amendments to the law in 1996 and 2006 set in place policies to better manage our waters by our own commercial and recreational fishermen as well. And balancing fishing and conservation needs has paid off, as fish populations around the nation have rebounded. Over the past 35 years, we have learned about how to build vibrant and sustainable fisheries. Now is not the time for Congress to reverse course on a policy that has helped return our nation’s fish populations, the lifeblood of America’s commercial and recreational fishing industries, to healthy levels.

LEE CROCKETT -mcclatchy newspapers

MCT CAMPUS

Don’t feel pressured to watch the ‘wedding of the century’ July 29, 1981, 750 million viewers around the world On tuned in to watch the wedding of Diana Spencer to Charles, the Prince of Wales. At the time, the statistics were phenomenal — approximately 17 percent of the world’s population had witnessed the royal nuptials. Until recently, the figure was unprecedented. According to British officials, a 2 billion-person audience is expected to watch the royal wedding of Kate Middleton to Prince William Friday. If these numbers are correct, over a quarter of the global populace will be adjusting their schedules to watch the marriage of this year’s most famous royal couple — the question is why? For a U.K. audience, the answer is clear. The grandeur and circumstance of royalty has been around for centuries. There is a personal connection to the tradition and institution. Additionally, citizens will get a day off to celebrate. But what about the rest of us? It’s difficult to say. The American media is certainly infatuated with the wedding of the century. An interested American citizen can log onto any news site, watch any news channel or read any magazine for information on the royal bride and groom-to-be. Local and big-chain stores alike

have taken to selling so-called royal memorabilia, which includes commemorative plates, coins, stamps and towels. It is even possible to purchase a cheap replica of Middleton’s enormous blue engagement ring. For a more local perspective, the Lyric theater will be hosting a viewing party at 5 a.m. on behalf of those who wish to watch the couple exchange vows. A lot of Americans have also compared Middleton to Diana, the People’s Princess who was internationally loved. Let’s also not forget that the upcoming wedding is the stuff of fairytales. There’ll be princes and princesses, horse-drawn carriages, expensive gowns and millions of adoring well-wishers. Yet for every American obsessed with scrutinizing Middleton’s wardrobe and paying for a plane ticket to London to join in on the street festivities, there are just as many who have absolutely no idea what all this frenzy is about. Ultimately, the ceremony is taking place on another continent where royal marriages have no real bearing on American affairs. In fact, for many of Americans, the idea of watching a wedding for entertainment sounds mind-numbingly boring. Besides, April 29 won’t be a national holiday, and most people

will be heading to work and class in a normal fashion. But it’s been nearly three decades since the last royal wedding, and there is no way to escape the media coverage surrounding it. Numerous TV networks and cable channels have already spent millions of dollars in travel cost, TV personalities, and onair privileges and licensing. If as many as two billion people really do tune in, the expenses might be worth it. That number doesn’t even account for the hundreds of thousands of Internet viewers and those who will be gathered outside of the Buckingham Palace gates hoping to catch a glimpse of the newly wedded couple. Watch or don’t watch — ignore the pressure. As for me, I probably won’t get up in time no matter how many alarms I set, but I’ll make sure to see the wedding at some point in the future. After all, if Prince Harry doesn’t get hitched soon, it might be another several decades before people get the chance to witness another royal wedding.

COURTNEY SELLARS -regular columnist -junior -history major

American presence obvious in European popular culture there was ever a global pop culture war, the U.S. won it. Living If in Switzerland and traveling Europe for almost four months, the ubiquity of American taste, influence and commercialism was most eye-opening to me. The level that American entertainment culture permeates through European society is unbelievable. My very first night in Riva San Vitale, a village that has a population of a little over 2,000 people, I went to a small bar — I can’t emphasize its tininess — in town to get a beer and to get to know some of the people I’d be spending the semester with. Minus everyone speaking Italian, it was very similar to any small bar I had been to in the U.S. Then I realized it was way too similar — for one particular reason. While all the patrons and bartenders swirled in a storm of conversational Italian, there was a live band singing nothing but English songs — AC/DC seemed to be the band’s paramour, but it also played the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Steve Miller and Lynyrd Skynyrd. The renditions resembled those played by a five-person band karaoke. The verses were mumbled and fumbled through, such as a karaoke singer trying to catch up to the lyrics on the prompter after one too many drinks. But the singers belted out chorus lines in “You Shook Me All Night Long,” as if they had been crooning it their whole lives, only with thick accents making it sound similar to Brian Johnson. But that instance was just one event that led my colleagues and me to realize a phenomenon that blew us away. Putting aside foreign policy, economic stability and political efficacy, the U.S. knows how to get it done when it comes to entertainment and commercialism. Airports and train stations across Europe are almost painted with U.S. movie posters — the upcoming Blockbuster “Thor” is being released a few days earlier in some European cities than in the U.S. “The Simpsons” is available in almost any language on TV, and some Italians love to

wear the fictional brand Duff Beer T-shirts. “Like a G6” and “Tik Tok” were just as inescapable in Munich and Belinzona as they were in the U.S. Justin Timberlake, Julia Roberts and Scarlett Johansson are advertising spokespersons for European products that many American’s probably haven’t heard of. I haven’t even mentioned McDonald’s restaurants, which from what I can tell are more prevalent and popular in European cities than American ones. A quick side note: European McDonald’s restaurants are selling a promotional cheeseburger called the “1955,” which tries to exude nostalgia of post-war American diner culture — a food for thought joke is itching to be there. A small weekend market in Orvieto, Italy, didn’t offer a single CD by an Italian artist but did have a New Radicals album — remember them? For me, this has been truly perplexing, and I can only imagine that the reasons for this pop culture’s dominance stretches beyond any full understanding. Coming to Switzerland, I envisioned myself facing foreign identities and all things different, but I was surprised when the first thing I saw in a Milan airport was a movie preview for “Avatar.” This is not to say I haven’t experienced a lot of new and different European cultures or part of this trip has been detracted in any way. I was just taken back by the prevalence of American culture in the world. After some thought, I would assume a lot of this comes down to information communication technology and language. Pop culture, which relies so elementally on visual, aural and visceral communication, must also be so dependent on the means to produce such interchange and language used. Following the great World Wars that ravished Europe, America’s rise cannot be argued, and its ability to set the cornerstones of newly formed markets in TV, film, music, art and style gave it a head start in this pop culture industry. This head start designated America as the “go to” place

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for talent in all levels of entertainment and distribution (i.e. Hollywood). On top of this, and maybe more importantly, the cornerstones set in place were English. While similar popular styles of foreign entertainment did exist around the 1960s, even in places like East Germany, no artist could fulfill the stature of making it until they were performing English songs in America — even true for The Beatles. In the past 50 years, with the entertainment industry expanding, English speakers fueled the growing market — don’t forget Britain, Canada and other English speaking countries’ influences (AC/ DC was founded in Australia). This is not to say that such dominance is everlasting. While U.S. pop culture still holds a certain hegemony and our language is practically being instituted as a global standard, the rest of the world might not always find Americans this cool if we sell out artistic value and more sophisticated styles of art that can attract popularity and business elsewhere. There is such a thing as soft power, and its effectiveness should not be underestimated in geopolitics. The trip showed me that Hollywood is just as an important foreign ambassador for the U.S. as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. On that same first night, as I left the cramped bar to spend my first night in the Swiss villa, I heard the band play one last song behind me. “Take Me Home, Country Roads” by John Denver echoed in the streets of this small foreign town. What at first I took as comedic irony, I now understand as illuminating — as I recall the lyrics “I hear her voice, in the morning hour she calls me, the radio reminds me of my home far away.” Those words spoke to my eventual homesickness. Something as simple as a popular song can evoke emotion and power in an individual in a far off place.

OWEN DAVIS -regular columnist -senior -political science major

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Collegiate Times Editorial Staff Editor in Chief: Peter Velz Managing Editors: Zach Crizer, Katie Biondo, Josh Son Public Editor: Justin Graves Senior News Editor: Philipp Kotlaba Associate News Editors: Liana Bayne, Gordon Block News Reporters: Claire Sanderson, Jay Speidell, Michelle Sutherland, Sarah Watson News Staff Writers: Erin Chapman, Meighan Dober Features Editors: Lindsey Brookbank, Kim Walter Features Reporters: Chelsea Gunter, Mia Perry Features Staff Writers: Andrew Reilly, Nick Smirniotopoulos Opinions Editors: Scott Masselli, Gabi Seltzer Sports Editors: Michael Bealey, Garrett Ripa Sports Reporters: Nick Cafferky, Matt Jones, Courtney Lofgren, Josh Parcell Sports Staff Writers: Alyssa Bedrosian, Alex Koma, Ashleigh Lanza, Zach Mariner Special Sections Editor: Bethany Buchanan Public Information Director: Dishu Maheshwari Training Director: Kelsey Heiter Copy Editors: Taylor Chakurda, Thandiwe Ogbonna, Spenser Snarr, Brittany Kelly, Debra Houchins Layout Designers: Danielle Buynak, Victoria Zigadlo, Wei Hann, Maya Shah Online Director: Jamie Chung Collegiate Times Business Staff Business Manager: David Harries Distribution Assistant: Ryan Francis Student Publications Photo Staff Director of Photography: Sara Mitchell Business Manager: Luke Mason Lab Manager: Mark Umansky College Media Solutions Ad Director: Nik Bando Asst Ad Director: Brandon Collins Account Executives: Emily Africa, Matt Freedman, Connor Geiran, Mario Gazzola Inside Sales Manager: Wade Stephenson Assistant Inside Sales Manager: Diane Revalski Assistant Account Executives: Maddie Abram, Katie Berkel, Kaelynn Kurtz, Erin Shuba Creative Director: Chloé Skibba Asst Production Manager: Casey Stoneman Creative Services Staff: Tim Austin, Colleen Hill, Jenn Le, Erin Weisiger Voice your opinion. Readers are encouraged to send letters to the Collegiate Times. 365 Squires Student Center Blacksburg, VA, 24061 Fax: (540) 231-9151 opinionseditor@collegiatetimes.com All letters to the editor must include a name and daytime phone number. Students must include year and major. Faculty and staff must include position and department. All other submissions must include city of residence, and if applicable, relationship to Virginia Tech (i.e., alumni, parent, etc.). All letters should be in MS Word (.doc) format, if possible. Letters, commentaries and editorial cartoons do not reflect the views of the Collegiate Times. Editorials are written by the Collegiate Times editorial board, which is composed of the opinions editors, editor-in-chief and the managing editors. Letters to the editor are submissions from Collegiate Times readers. We reserve the right to edit for any reason. Anonymous letters will not be printed. Have a news tip? Call or text 200-TIPS or e-mail newstips@collegiatetimes.com Student Media Phone Numbers Collegiate Times Newsroom 231-9865 Editor-in-Chief 231-9867 College Media Solutions Advertising 961-9860 The Collegiate Times, a division of the Educational Media Company at Virginia Tech, was established in 1903 by and for the students of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. The Collegiate Times is published every Tuesday through Friday of the academic year except during exams and vacations. The Collegiate Times receives no direct funding from the university. The Collegiate Times can be found online at www.collegiatetimes.com. Except where noted, all photographs were taken by the Student Publications Photo Staff. To order a reprint of a photograph printed in the Collegiate Times, visit reprints.collegemedia.com. Subscription rates: $65 semester; $110 fall/spring. The first copy is free, any copy of the paper after that is 50 cents per issue. © Collegiate Times, 2011. All rights reserved. Material published in the Collegiate Times is the property thereof, and may not be reprinted without the express written consent of the Collegiate Times.

april 27, 2011

page 4

Wine: Festival offers chef demonstrations and food samples from page one

100 vehicles. This part of the festival will be in an area that is open and free for the public to attend. This year the Fork and Cork will offer a new event called the Can Do,

The cork portion of the festival will feature winery stations where visitors can buy wine by the glass, bottle or case. Bottle prices are expected to range from $10 to $22. Kroger will be selling various cheeses to pair with the wine selections. According to Akers, hosting 19 wineries, which will offer about 100 different wines, is a good amount for the festival’s size. Besides the fork and cork portions, art and craft vendors will sell their artwork, ranging from paintings to jewelry. The festival will also feature live music for entertainment. Three bands are lined up to play this year, including the Lew Woodall Jazz Quartet, Hoopie Vaughan and the Ministers of Soul and 3 Minute Lovin’. Festival-goers are encouraged to bring chairs to sit and enjoy the festival.“ Then you can buy a bottle and sit down and enjoy the music,” Akers said. Outside of the festival, the Grand Classic Cruisers and the New River Valley Jeep Club will showcase over

“

The Can Do competition is really interesting, and we want to grow that for next year. Instead of having eight teams, we would love to have 20 teams or even more. DIANE AKERS BLACKSBURG PARTNERSHIP PRESDIENT

which is a food sculpture competition. Eight participating teams will collect food cans and construct their own sculpture out of them to win prizes, which will be awarded to the jurors’ favorite, people’s choice, most nutritious meal, best use of labels, structure ingenuity, most cans collected and honorable mention. There is no entry fee to compete in the Can Do competition. The

donations will benefit local food banks such as Micah’s Backpack and Blacksburg Interfaith Food Pantry. Festival guests can vote for a winner by donating a can. “The Can Do competition is really interesting, and we want to grow that for next year,” Akers said. “Instead of having eight teams, we would love to have 20 teams or even more.” Besides the Fork and Cork, the partnership also hosts Brew Do, a craft beer festival hosted in the fall. The Blacksburg Transit South Main line will run free of charge Saturday for convenience. For the regular fee, the Smart Way bus will make special stops at the festival to drop off and pick up guests. The festival will be held, rain or shine from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. at First and Main streets. Tickets purchased in advance are $20, while tickets at the gate will be $25. Tickets can be bought online at BlacksburgPartnership. org or at the Krogers in Blacksburg. While MasterCard and Visa will be accepted at the gate, the partnership COURTESY OF DIANE AKERS suggests guests bring cash for purchases within the festival. At last year’s Fork and Cork, festival guests sip on wine, relax and enjoy the live music and atmosphere.

MIA PERRY

Tea sandwiches with unique ingredients make easy, classy dishes slice. Spoon in the cream cheese and apple mixture, and add the top half of the baguette. Slice into 2-inch sandwiches

chopped 1 thin baguette, halved horizontally and lightly buttered Directions: 1. Mix the chopped apple with the lemon juice 2. Spoon the cream cheese into a bowl and stir in the herbs. Add the apple pieces and a little bit of the lemon juice 3. Arrange the slices of cucumber along the bottom half of the baguette, slightly overlapping each

To celebrate the royal wedding, host a party of your own and serve these elegant mini tea sandwiches to guests. Apple and cucumber sandwiches Ingredients: 1/2 cup lemon juice 1 apple, chopped into pieces 1/4 cucumber, finely sliced 7 oz cream cheese 1/2 bunch mint, chopped 1/4 bunch flat-leaf parsley,

Smoked salmon, caper and cream cheese sandwiches Ingredients: 5 1/2 oz cream cheese 1/2 red onion, finely chopped 1 tbsp capers, drained, finely chopped 8 slices wholemeal bread, lightly

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Today’s Radio Schedule ed Mix scs Di Art Day

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7-9 AM - Tyler Vance

WUVT “5 Minute” News at 5 PM (is easy because he’s beautfiul)

y ialt

7-9 PM - The Local Zone

Spe

12-2PM - Evan Bowles & Chris Shores

9 PM-12 AM - The Big Waste of Time

2-3:30PM - Ngo More w/ Anh Ngo

12-2 AM - Roland & Shan

rt ht A Nig ty cial Spe

3:30-5 PM - Ben Woody

2-4 AM - Maddie & Malvika

5-7 PM - Commodore Ace Fever

4-7 AM - Appalachian Sunrise

9AM-12PM - Lovin Nathan

By Bruce Venzke

ACROS S 1 Set off, as an alarm 8 Elko native 15 TV host’ s segue 17 Sources of track reports 18 Certain border, to a philatelist 19 Menlo Park wizard, initially 20 Egyptian fertility deity 21 It might be req. for some new furniture 24 Eject

4/27/11 27 Velvet’s older sister in “National Velvet” 30 Sends, in a way 34 Lonely guy in old 60-Down 38 Author Levin 39 Kind of blouse 40 Shade 41 Fighting words 44 Impressive property 45 Filled in 46 Travel about 48 Fed. inspection group 49 Letter on a sweater

52 Defense gp. formed in Bogot á 54 Shortfall 58 Creed foe, with “The” 63 Maneuver through a tight openin g 64 High-powered 65 Lower DOW N 1 Medicinal amt. 2 Anatomica l network 3 Support beam 4 Layered dessert

ed Mix cs Dis

buttered 8 slices smoked salmon Directions: 1. Mix the cream cheese, red onion and capers together in a bowl 2. Spread this mixture onto four slices of the bread. Top with the smoked salmon and close the sandwiches with the remaining slices of bread 3. Remove the crusts and cut the sandwiches into quarters

features reporter

Directions: 1. For the egg and caper mayonnaise sandwiches, mix the eggs, mayonnaise and capers together in a bowl. Season to taste with salt and ground black pepper 2. Spread the egg mayonnaise onto four slices of the bread. Sprinkle over the cress and close the sandwiches with the remaining slices of bread 3. Remove the crusts and cut the sandwiches into fingers

Egg and caper mayonnaise sandwiches Ingredients: 4 eggs, hard-boiled, peeled and chopped 3-4 tbsp mayonnaise 1 tbsp capers, drained, finely chopped Salt and freshly ground black pepper 8 slices bread, lightly buttered Small punnet cress

WORDFIND • Theme: Baseball Terms Locate the list of words in the G-Z word bank in the letter grid. A

M W

33 Ed __, runner-up 5 Election night fig. in the first 6 Just make, with Masters sudden “out” death playoff 7 Bad way to play 35 “The Facts of 8 Collars can hide Life” actress them 9 Former 36 Debatable Radiohead label “ability ” 10 As far as the eye 37 Kung __ chicken can see: Abbr. 42 Illinois-based 11 Dovelike food gian t 12 Batman and 43 Compressed Robin et al. 47 __ Cristo: fried 13 King of the sandwich Huns, in Norse 48 Peruvian myth pronoun 14 Loch seen from 49 Rigatoni relative Urquhart Castle 50 Race: Pref. 16 Secretive org. 51 Sharp 22 Shapes up 53 Butt end 23 Smart-sounding 55 Musical with the brew song “Radames’ 25 Very little money Letter” 26 Gave of f 56 Under 20, to most 27 ’60s boxing 57 Joint for champ Grif fith guitarists ? 28 Braves 59 Golfer W oosnam 29 Peter ’s “Easy 60 Some pitches Rider” role 61 Chemical suf fix 31 “You dig?” 62 It may be pulled response Tuesday’s Puzzle Solved 32 Cum __

4/26/11

WORD BANK Gopher Grand Slam Grounder Hit Homerun Infield Inning Knuckleball Mound Ondeck Outfield Pinchhitter Run Safe Shortstop Sinker Slider Steal Strike Triple Walk

sports 5

editors: michael bealey, garrett ripa sportseditor@collegiatetimes.com/ 540.231.9865 COLLEGIATETIMES

april 27, 2011

Upperclass leadership carries men’s relay team COURTNEY LOFGREN sports reporter The Virginia Tech men’s track and field team finished second in the ACC Championship last weekend, falling short of Florida State by 21 total team points. Distance runners are some of the team’s strongest contributors. These runners are unique because they compete in the fall for the cross country team, as well as in the winter and spring with the indoor and outdoor track teams. Ben Thomas, the distance and cross country coach has been with Tech since 2001 and coached many successful runners in a variety of events, including the 800, 1,000, 1,500 and 3,000 meter steeplechase. Because distance runners run three different seasons, the team knows how disciplined it must be to be successful. “There is no other sport that doesn’t have an offseason during the school year,” Thomas said. “We’re the only event area that competes for three NCAA championships. There’s no other sport that does that. We have

4 x 800 meter relay team Sophomore Tihut Degfae Yirgalem, Ethiopia

Senior Nick McLaughlin Leesburg, Va.

more opportunity, but with that, the discipline and the aspect of being in season is quite unique.” The team not only practices twice a day, but it also incorporates strength

Junior Michael Hammond Midlothian, Va.

Senior Ryan Witt Winchester, Va.

training and swimming into its workouts. Thomas said the swimming is more than work because the runners are more like fish out of water in the pool.

But the runners take pride in their training. “A lot of people associate running with jogging, which is a common misconception,” said Michael Hammond, a junior mid-distance runner. “What those people don’t understand is if you take their hardest mile, we do that 10 times faster.” Hammond specializes in the 1,500 meter race and competes on the cross country team. The time these athletes spend together is significant. Therefore, it’s no surprise that they share a bond and push one another in practice. “We’re a pretty close-knit group,” Hammond said. “We all run cross country in the fall, so we’re kind of like a separate team from the track team as a whole. Not that we’re not close to the sprinters and throwers, but we practice with each other every day, normally twice a day.” Ryan Witt, a senior whose specialty is the 800 meter, said team members motivate one another when split into groups, depending on what distance they run. “When we’re doing workouts we get separated into groups depending on what races we’ll be competing in

like the 800, the 1500 or 5k and 10k,” Witt said. “In those smaller groups, which have maybe six to nine people, we all do the workout together and push each other individually or as a group. It’s a lot easier to do it together as opposed to just going out and doing it by yourself.” An event that has been successful over the years is the 4-by-800 meter relay, which is only run during the indoor season. The event is run at larger invitational meets, such as the Penn Relay Invitational, which is this weekend, during the spring season. The current members of the relay team — Nick McLaughlin, Witt, Tihut Degfae and Hammond — hold the fourth best time in school history. Thomas said he thinks the team can break the school record at the Penn Relays this weekend. “Two of these guys, Michael and Ryan, were on the record setting team last year so they technically do hold the school record,” Thomas said. “But with the way they are running, we should break the school record there.” Behind any successful team are usually quality leaders within the ros-

“

A lot of people associate running with jogging, which is a common misconception. What those people don’t understand is if you take their hardest mile, we do that 10 times faster.” MICHAEL HAMMOND MID-DISTANCE RUNNER

ter. Thomas can rely on upperclassman such as Witt and Hammond to positively influence other team members. “One of the things that has made us strong over the last few years is that we have a few guys that can lead really well by example,” Thomas said. “There’s not ‘anyone’ necessarily, there’s several guys who lead by example and performance, and that’s the reason we’re always in contention for an ACC championship.” The Penn Relays will be one of the last times the distance runners will compete as a team this season. The track season will finish in early June with the NCAA Championships, a qualifying meet.

Baseball defeats North Carolina A&T 5-4

DANIEL LIN / SPPS

Hokies second baseman Michael Seaborn tags out a North Carolina A&T runner at second base in their game Tuesday night. Tech won 5-4.

HOKIES NEED WALK-OFF HIT FROM MORALES IN NINTH TO DEFEAT AGGIES AFTER RAIN DELAY. ZANDER BAYLIS sports staff writer The Virginia Tech baseball team needed some late scoring to defeat the Aggies of North Carolina A&T Tuesday night. The win comes on the heels of a four game road winning streak, during which the Hokies outscored the opposition 44-15. The Aggies were 14-25 going into the game versus the red-hot Hokies. Eddie Campbell was the starting pitcher for the Hokies during the game, which was delayed by lightning. Campbell gave the Hokies four solid innings, allowing only four runs. However, it was the bullpen that really shined in a game that involved six scoreless innings by the Aggie offense. Despite the stalwart efforts by

the bullpen arms, which have been all but dependable this season, the offense was not able to capitalize on all of its opportunities. The Hokies’ offense did have some bright moments, including a tworun home run by third-baseman Johnny Morales — his first of the season. The teams were deadlocked at four runs from the sixth inning to the bottom of the ninth, until the Aggies intentionally walked Chad Morgan, a .224 hitter, to put men on first and second base with no outs. The next batter, designated hitter Chris Kay, drew a walk as well to load the bases for none other than Morales, the 5-foot-5 ball of energy. Morales drove in the winning run with a walk-off single into left field. “A lot of crazy stuff happened tonight,” said Pete Hughes, head coach. “I’m just fortunate that we

won and that we had the right guys up in pressure situation.” With this win, the Hokies improve their overall record to 24-18, 7-14 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. When asked about how many wins he thinks the Hokies will need to get into the ACC Tournament, Hughes said, “I think 12 gets us, 11 (is) borderline.” With nine ACC games left in the season, it is certainly not out of the realm of possibility that the Hokies make a run toward an ACC Tournament berth. With the collective efforts of a team that includes a recent ACC baseball player of the week (Andrew Rash), the ACC leader in runs scored (Tim Smalling), and a pitching staff that comes through in tight situations, the Hokies may make it Durham, N.C. The run toward contention will continue this Friday when the Hokies travel to Durham for a three game series with Duke, the conference bottom feeder.

remaining games Friday @ Duke Saturday @ Duke Sunday @ Duke May 4th: USC Upstate May 7-8: James Madison May 13-15: Clemson May 17: VMI May 19-21: Georgia Tech May 25-29: ACC Tournament

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